Someone forgot to tell the big kids on the block that the young kids were not intimidated.

Big means a lot in volleyball, figuratively speaking.

Allentown Central Catholic is big. Make no mistake, the Vikings have tall, rangy players with plenty of power to as well.

But Panther Valley wasn’t intimidated when it went against the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference power in the District 11 Class AA quarterfinals on Thursday at Northwestern High School.

Even when it lost the first set, the spunky Panthers weren’t backing down.

In the end, Panther Valley’s upset bid fell just short however as the Vikings rallied for a 25-19, 24-26, 23-25, 25-15, 15-11 victory.

“We are a very young team, but we won’t back down,” said Panther Valley coach Emilie Baker. “Coming in, we knew it was going to be a tough match and that not many people gave us a chance.”

Allentown Central Catholic coach Laurie Corcoran knew that as well.

“I knew they weren’t going to be easy, even after that first set win,” said Corcoran.

Panther Valley showed its tenacity by bouncing back to outlast the Vikings in each of the next two sets after dropping the opener.

While the bigger Vikings were looking to control the play at the net, Panther Valley was responding affirmatively. Senior Abby Vermillion was giving in, senior Sadie Trubilla was laying it all on the line, and freshman Emma Dacey was playing like veteran.

After gaining momentum with a 26-24 second set win, the Panthers followed with another impressive performance in the third set.

Panther Valley was leading 20-17, but ACC knotted it up thanks to 5-11 Reilly Blair, who finished off several points at the net.

With the scored knotted at 23-23, the Panthers unleashed Emma Hudak, who served up a critical ace point before an unforced ACC error gave the underdogs another set victory.

“I knew they were not backing down,” Corcoran said. “They beat us in five sets last year, so this was sort of a revenge game for us.”

The eventual winners got juiced up in a hurry and shot out to a 19-7 lead before eventually closing out the fourth set victory. Freshman Abbey Benick reeled off nine unanswered service points to lead ACC in the set.

“That gave us a lot of confidence,” Corcoran said. “We got the momentum thanks to Benick. That really carried us to the win.”

In the deciding fifth set, the Vikings ran off a flurry of points to charge in front by a 10-5 margin, Panther Valley closed the gap to 13-10, and later 14-11. But Elizabeth Trump let loose with a prodigious kill to finally finish off a courageous band of Panthers.

“I’m extremely proud of our girls,” said Baker. “We are a young, driven team, but tonight, we didn’t look or play young at all.”

LAST TIME OUT… Panther Valley defeated ACC a year ago in five sets. Despite ACC returning nearly its entire cast of players, while the Panthers suffered major graduation losses, PV came oh-so close to a big upset.

BY THE NUMBERS .. Vermillion had eight kills and three digs, while Trubilla had four kills, 20 assists and 10 digs. Also figuring into the scoring were Riley McArdle (six kills and 18 digs), and Maddison Maynard (six kills). For ACC, Blair had a whopping 16 kills, Trump had a monster game with 42 digs and freshman Annelies Quinn was impressive from the outside hitter spot with 14 kills.

off several points at the net.

With the scored knotted at 23-23, the Panthers unleashed Emma Hudak, who served up a critical ace point before an unforced ACC error gave the underdogs another set victory.

“I knew they were not backing down,” Corcoran said. “They beat us in five sets last year, so this was sort of a revenge game for us.”

The eventual winners got juiced up in a hurry and shot out to a 19-7 lead before eventually closing out the fourth set victory. Freshman Abbey Benick reeled off nine unanswered service points to lead ACC in the set.

“That gave us a lot of confidence,” Corcoran said. “We got the momentum thanks to Benick. That really carried us to the win.”

In the deciding fifth set, the Vikings ran off a flurry of points to charge in front by a 10-5 margin, Panther Valley closed the gap to 13-10, and later 14-11. But Elizabeth Trump let loose with a prodigious kill to finally finish off a courageous band of Panthers.

“I’m extremely proud of our girls,” said Baker. “We are a young, driven team, but tonight, we didn’t look or play young at all.”

LAST TIME OUT… Panther Valley defeated ACC a year ago in five sets. Despite ACC returning nearly its entire cast of players, while the Panthers suffered major graduation losses, PV came oh-so close to a big upset.

BY THE NUMBERS .. Vermillion had eight kills and three digs, while Trubilla had four kills, 20 assists and 10 digs. Also figuring into the scoring were Riley McArdle (six kills and 18 digs), and Maddison Maynard (six kills). For ACC, Blair had a whopping 16 kills, Trump had a monster game with 42 digs and freshman Annelies Quinn was impressive from the outside hitter spot with 14 kills.